Note: The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.
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Dear Chancellor Girod, Provost Bichelmeyer, and other KU administrators,
We’re graduates of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at the University of Kansas. Like the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender, our department was created in response to protests and demands by women professors, students and workers in 1972 known as the February Sisters. We stand on their shoulders and continue their work by opposing the erasure of a crucial part of their legacy.
Combining the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs into a single office is not only a disgrace to the student and faculty activists who demanded the creation of these spaces; it also dishonors the countless people over the past half-century who have utilized the centers.
In a moment when queer and trans identity, reproductive rights, and students of color are under attack, the ETC, SGD and OMA provide respite and community for students who face real threats based on their identities. The collapsing of these centers into one unit has already had a negative impact on the people who rely on them, and will exert a chilling effect on other aspects of intellectual inquiry and community building at KU.
Related news article:
• KU combining centers focused on diversity into one ‘Student Engagement Center’, Sept. 9, 2024
More than just a resource for undergraduate students, the centers offered support for graduate students, staff and faculty. We found mentors and allies in the staff of the centers. The Center for Sexuality and Diversity hosts the QT Grad Coalition, a space for queer and trans graduate students to build community outside of their departments and share advice on navigating being an “out” instructor. SGD Safe Zone trainings helped support both us and our queer and trans undergraduates.
Because of our class subject matter, WGSS graduate instructors shoulder a disproportionate share of advising undergraduate students on issues like sexual orientation, gender, racism and white supremacy, and sexual violence. The ETC, SGD and OMA were trusted resources to which we could refer our students for support. Consolidating the centers and reducing their programming will force graduate instructors to do an even greater share of uncompensated advising.
By consolidating the centers, KU’s administration was over-complying with state law that prohibits using DEI practices in hiring and admissions but has nothing to say about support centers.
That the university was not directed by the Kansas Legislature to consolidate the centers and did so anyway speaks to a disappointing lack of courage. We are all too aware that this preemptive capitulation could also harm the WGSS program in years to come. That outcome would be unacceptable.
Our legacy and our current students and alumni stand in favor of saving our centers. There is still time for KU to reverse course, honor the legacy of our foremothers, and demonstrate both bravery and care for its most marginalized students. As our former WGSS professors reminded you: we deserve it. We look forward to your timely response.
Sincerely,
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies alumni:
Abigail Barefoot, PhD, 2022
Allison Smith, Graduate Certificate, 2017
Amber Brown, Masters, 2021
Arlowe Clementine, Masters, 2024
Ashley Depenbusch-Otzoy, Bachelor, 2008
Caleb Ballard, Bachelor, 2009
Cara Grey (née McConnell), Bachelor, 2010
Carolina Costa Candal, Graduate Certificate, 2017
Chris Robinson, Graduate Certificate, 2011
Corinne Schwarz, PhD, 2018
Courtney McDaniel Rilinger, Graduate Certificate, 2021
Dr. Laura Dean, Graduate Certificate, 2012
Dr. Sherry Warren, Graduate Certificate, 2017
Eliot Spielman, Bachelor, 2018
Elise Higgins, Masters, 2019
Emily Welch, Bachelor, 2010
Jennifer Parson, Bachelor, 2000
Jess Harman, Bachelor, 2012
Joy McGinnis, Bachelor, 2006
Justin Preddie, Graduate Certificate, 2019
Kelsey Carls, Masters, 2020
Kia Cannon, Bachelor, 2024
Loren Bornstein, Bachelor, 2010
Madeline Gonser, Bachelor, 2016
Mallory Sconzert, Bachelor, 2020
Marcy Quiason, PhD, 2022
Melinda Chen, PhD, 2022
Meredith Pavicic, Bachelor, 2012
Natasha Bharj, Graduate Certificate, 2018
Nicole Berkley, Minor, 2020
Rachel Denney, PhD, 2023
Ruth Stamper, Graduate Certificate, 2018
Sarah Deer, Bachelor, 1995
Saturn Sigourney Rage, Masters, 2024
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